The Dreamcast legacy to an outsider.

By Dalai September 9, 2009 2 Comments

My entire gaming life up until 1999 revolved around mainly Nintendo and games on Nintendo systems.  Sticking to one system at a time isn't something I wanted to do, but money doesn't grow on trees.  And by 1999 I was starting to move away from video games in general.  And since I never had that Sega childhood, I didn't have any reason to buy a Dreamcast.  My only experience with Sega was the occasional Sonic game at a friend's house, but it was mostly Nintendo for me. 
 
And so on 9/9/99, my life didn't change.  I never owned a Dreamcast.  I never even played it.  Yes, absolutely zero exposure to the Dreamcast my whole life. 
 
Today marks a very big day for many in the gaming community and although much of the Giant Bomb staff is still quite fond of the Dreamcast, my feelings are quite different.  Honestly, it looks like I missed out on a large part of history here.  Looking at it now, we could use something like the Dreamcast now... or at least the games.  Sonic's last great game was on the Dreamcast which is enough to celebrate the console's short life.  Power Stone, Crazy Taxi, and Jet Grind Radio would be part of my library right now.  The games... it was about the games, and unfortunately much of the industry has moved away from the games the Dreamcast boasted about.  Many of the great games were bright, colorful, and different from the generic gray-palette shooters of today.  Plus, they looked fun.  Games got too serious soon after the Dreamcast was abandoned and that's a shame.  Any system with a first-person typer, a rhythm game with a maraca-shaking monkey, and a game with a cameo from Michael Jackson is not about being serious. 
 
So in my reality, the Dreamcast is about a lost opportunity and an era that has gone by.  Myself and others like me were part of the problem and opted for something else... or in my case, nothing at all.  I was content with the few PC games I had plus my old Nintendo consoles so investing any money into a Dreamcast (or a PS2 or Gamecube for that matter) seemed unnecessary.  All my memories about the Dreamcast are about how great the fighters were, the unique library of games, and the cult-like obsession of Shenmue.  And the fun I missed out on. 
 
Happy 10th birthday, Dreamcast.  I wish I got to know you.

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